1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe, an ultrasonic imaging apparatus and a fabricating method thereof, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic probe, an ultrasonic imaging apparatus and a fabricating method thereof for enhancing vibration property and improving focusing of ultrasonic images to obtain clear images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ultrasound is a method of examining tissues of the human body using ultrasonic waves, which irradiates ultrasonic waves to an affected area of the human body and detects an abnormal tissue through an image generated from a reflected signal. The ultrasound is used to diagnose lesions such as a tumor or test embryos.
Ultrasonic waves are defined as sound having a frequency higher than a frequency range that people can hear, generally, 20,000 Hz to 30 MHz. Ultrasonic waves for diagnosis of the human body are in the range of 1 MHz to 20 MHz.
An ultrasonic imaging apparatus used for ultrasound may be divided into three parts, that is, an ultrasonic probe, a signal processor and a display. The ultrasonic probe converts electric and ultrasonic signals and the signal processor processes receiving signals and transmitting signals. The display generates images using signals obtained from the ultrasonic probe and the signal processor. Particularly, the ultrasonic probe is an important part that determines the quality of an ultrasonic image.
The ultrasonic probe includes a piezoelectric wafer, an electrode, an acoustic matching layer, a printed circuit board and an acoustic lens, in general. The size of the ultrasonic probe is decreasing, which requires a method of arranging wiring patterns for processing ultrasonic and electric signals in the ultrasonic probe and a technique for improving vibration property and focusing to obtain clear ultrasonic images and widen a signal bandwidth.